FaithX, Datastory, and Long Island: Displacing Systemic Racism with Love and Understanding

By The Rev. Canon Claire Woodley
The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island

The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island has long been working towards addressing the many layers of racism on Long Island over decades and through several Episcopates.  The current Bishop of Long Island, the Rt. Rev. Lawrence Provenzano, has been seeking ways to increase dialogue and action, and to develop the tools to support it. 

Following a diocese-wide plea for congregations and individuals to engage the Sacred Ground series or the Healing from Systemic Racism program during Lent of 2021, Bishop Provenzano realized that the people of the diocese really needed drill down into the specifics of systemic racism here on Long Island, understanding that out of specificity comes creativity, and that if the Diocese could provide its people with easy access to the specific data for their setting, and that of those they love around the Diocese, understanding and creative common work can bloom. But the problem we ran into was that just giving people statistics didn’t cut it. We hear statistics all the time, in isolated bits and pieces that are difficult to put together, since those statistics often come without context or meaning.

It was at this point that we turned to FaithX and Datastory.

Several of us had attended one of FaithX’s webinars on “Mapping Systemic Racism,” which just so happened to be focused on one of our congregations in Brooklyn. We were struck with how persuasive and attitude-changing statistics could be when presented in an interactive, mapped format, which both told a story and invited the audience to help develop that story and, most importantly, to find their place in that story. So we reached out to FaithX and they reached out to their affiliate, Datastory, and we all rolled up our sleeves and got to work, with FaithX guiding the narrative and Datastory designing and producing the interactive presentation (which they call a “Datastory”). 

The results were amazing. FaithX and Datastory have taken the statistical data of the Diocese of Long Island’s four counties and woven them into a comprehensive story  that reveals how and where structural racism exists, and its history and current impacts. But just as importantly it invites us to take steps to create a new story for our Diocese that is sufficiently persuasive and enduring to displace the false and destructive narrative of systemic racism. Interactive maps showing data for different locations are found throughout the presentation.  

This Datastory is called “Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly.”

Now it is time for our congregations and their leadership to engage with our story. We hope they will do so as an act of prayer, seeking God’s love, conviction, and transformation in their lives, and their wider context of locations and relationships. We have all experienced accelerated change through hate in the last five years. The Presiding Bishop calls us to set forth in a counter-journey in the Way of Love, so that we might become the beloved community. If we wish to be One Diocese, One Mission we need to see one another’s context and hear the truth in one another’s story. The work of becoming a beloved community can be difficult, sweet, and freedom-giving. We are heading for love that is life-giving, liberating, and sustaining. 

Click here to engage this Datastory of Long Island

It is our hope that this Datastory will be used by groups of parishes engaging in Indaba, by congregations seeking mission clarification, by congregations doing their history seeking the presence of BIPOC people, and in Diocesan committees and commissions as they deliberate going forward on racial justice, reparations, and reconciliation. There’s a lot of work ahead, but the good news is that it is really holy work.  This Datastory will help us to do our piece in our time.


If you would like to find out more about Mapping Systemic Racism in your judicatory or congregation, please reach out to us at info@faithx.net

Several of us had attended one of FaithX’s webinars on “Mapping Systemic Racism,” which just so happened to be focused on one of our congregations in Brooklyn. We were struck with how persuasive and attitude-changing statistics could be when presented in an interactive, mapped format, which both told a story and invited the audience to help develop that story and, most importantly, to find their place in that story. So we reached out to FaithX and they reached out to their affiliate, Datastory, and we all rolled up our sleeves and got to work, with FaithX guiding the narrative and Datastory designing and producing the interactive presentation (which they call a “Datastory”). 

The results were amazing. FaithX and Datastory have taken the statistical data of the Diocese of Long Island’s four counties and woven them into a comprehensive story  that reveals how and where structural racism exists, and its history and current impacts. But just as importantly it invites us to take steps to create a new story for our Diocese that is sufficiently persuasive and enduring to displace the false and destructive narrative of systemic racism. Interactive maps showing data for different locations are found throughout the presentation.  

This Datastory is called “Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly.”

Now it is time for our congregations and their leadership to engage with our story. We hope they will do so as an act of prayer, seeking God’s love, conviction, and transformation in their lives, and their wider context of locations and relationships. We have all experienced accelerated change through hate in the last five years. The Presiding Bishop calls us to set forth in a counter-journey in the Way of Love, so that we might become the beloved community. If we wish to be One Diocese, One Mission we need to see one another’s context and hear the truth in one another’s story. The work of becoming a beloved community can be difficult, sweet, and freedom-giving. We are heading for love that is life-giving, liberating, and sustaining. 

Click here to engage this Datastory of Long Island

It is our hope that this Datastory will be used by groups of parishes engaging in Indaba, by congregations seeking mission clarification, by congregations doing their history seeking the presence of BIPOC people, and in Diocesan committees and commissions as they deliberate going forward on racial justice, reparations, and reconciliation. There’s a lot of work ahead, but the good news is that it is really holy work.  This Datastory will help us to do our piece in our time.


If you would like to find out more about Mapping Systemic Racism in your judicatory or congregation, please reach out to us at info@faithx.net